Dare to be different
Did you ever dream of a company that could have low overhead, happy employees, increased productivity, satisfied customers and higher profits? Are you willing to make a few adjustments?
Dare to be Different
Recent technological advances combined with environmental and economic factors have made this an ideal time to contemplate telecommuting or virtual office solutions. You can continue to maintain a brick and mortar main office and allow your employees to telecommute or you can become completely virtual. Either will result in greatly reduced overhead costs.
Running a traditional brick and mortar business has always been a challenge and the current uncertainty surrounding our economy makes it even worse. Our customers are strapped with high mortgages and less disposable income forcing them to do more with less. Running around town for errands and shopping now requires careful consideration due to high fuel prices. All of this affects our bottom line.
Your company can be more profitable with increased productivity and worker satisfaction. Statistics show that your odds of hiring and retaining high quality employees will increase by offering telecommuting positions.
Affordable Technology
In the past, working off site was an expensive proposition. Two major barriers were phone and computer networking.
Phone systems were site based and telecommuters had no way to tie in without great expense. With the advent of VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) it is very easy and affordable to connect everyone within your organization, regardless of location. Call transfers between a worker in Hillsboro and one in Battleground are as seamless as two offices across a hallway. When done properly, a VoIP system can improve your customer service capabilities.
Business software consisted of legacy systems that were not set up for outside access. If you could afford a secure line to each of your workers, you had additional costs for the IT staff to load and monitor their computers. The machines required similar configuration so applications could be loaded on each machine and data would synchronize with the main office computer.
Computer software has come a long way and SaaS (Software as a Service) systems are gaining a lot of popularity. The business application is hosted on a server that can be accessed over the Internet. There is no software to be loaded locally on each machine, which results in greatly reduced costs for hardware, maintenance and support. The only requirement is a browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer. Connected computers can be running the Windows, Mac or Linux operating system. The only real requirement is a broadband connection, which most of us already have at home.
Big corporations and financial institutions use the Internet to run their companies and so can you. Every business owner should be wary of putting their data on the Internet. However, it is possible to secure the storage and transmission of the data. Take the time to understand your options and know your provider.
Adapting to a telecommuting or virtual environment will not be an easy thing to do, but it can be positive change for you and your employees. You’ll probably miss the long commutes, traffic congestion, parking, high overhead and fuel prices, but eventually you’ll adjust.